We get plenty of emails asking us about entering recipes that all have to do with "will I get in trouble if I post a recipe that I took from xxx."  Last week this very same question came to play at Alosha's Kitchen where she edited and credited a recipe and was treated poorly by big business. 

The bottom line is that you can enter any recipe you want.  Lists of ingredients are not copyrightable.  Instructions are only copyrightable if they contain instructions that are other than straightforward.  For example, you can copy "whisk until blended" but you'd better not copy "add 4 egg whites to a copper bowl that you wiped out with grandmother's lint free tea towel and lemon juice, using firm upward strokes, then take your Williams-Sonoma balloon whisk and briskly whip 300 strokes counter-clockwise, and then 300 strokes clockwise, this is the method that I learned at the knee of the great chef Ratatouille."  You shouldn't copy that because it's obviously someone's personal writing.  And it's annoying.  We try not to be annoying.  Mostly.  Apparently mentioning certain companies gets their bow ties in a twist, so let's just not do it. 

But what if you modify a recipe to suit your needs or tastes?  Well, it's a new recipe.  You still need to make sure to cut out any instructions that are other than straight forward, and you can say, if you want, that you modified A recipe, and  you can allude or give hints as you desire.  But you don't have to,  since some people get snippy about it.  And unless you check the "share with community" box, no one but you is going to see it.  Maybe me...but probably not, I'm kinda busy making my own trouble.  Like, today, when my youngest son wanted potato soup.  I messed it up because I was doing too many things at once.  So I "fixed" it by dumping in enough instant mashed potatoes to make it chowder.  He loved it.  If you ever fix a soup by adding porato flakes, feel free to credit me, or not. 

There it is.  Add your recipes.  Pare down the instructions - makes it easier for us all to read, anyhow.  And go visit Melissa over at Alosha's Kitchen, she's got some yummy looking recipes that you could make.  And if you want to add them and credit her, there is a little box in the recipe editor for that very purpose.